Merry Christmas

Here are the highlights of Christmas this year. For our kids, we decided to go with the, "Something they want, something they need, something they wear, something they read," motto. This cut out a lot of unnecessary gifts, and we put in more thought once we picked things out for the kids!

Anyways, here are some pictures from all of our Christmases this year!

Christmas Photoshoot

In traditional fashion, I did a photo shoot of the twins under the Christmas tree this year, just like I did with Macyn back in 2009. I wrapped up a box, added a bow, and took some pictures of the girls!

Macyn's First Christmas Program

Macyn participated in her first Christmas program. This involved practicing at church during Sunday School, Wednesday nights, and one Saturday. The morning of the program, it took some convincing on my part, when I had to drop her off in the choir room, that we would be watching for her. She was on the verge of a meltdown, but fortunately she didn't....until the end of church, at least. The kids sang 6-7 different songs for a total of about 15-20 minutes. This included bell ringing and many actions. She did really well in her first program and we were so proud of her!

Ready for the program

Sister Picture :)

Nursery 1- 1st grade

Rocking baby Jesus

....."laid down his sweet head"

This is pretty much how all our pictures went after church

Twins with Grandpa & Grandma (Macyn refused to participate)

The best picture we could get!

Christmas Helpers

We have had our Christmas tree up for quite some time, and we were debating whether or not to block off our tree from the twins. We decided not to, and well...this is what happens:

 Kamryn and Laityn have managed to pull almost all the bows off the presents and the bottom of the tree is missing quite a bit of flocking. However....

Macyn never complains about getting a "sneak peak" at her presents after one of the twins (mostly Kamryn) ripped it open. Needless to say, lots of our presents are going for the tear, tape, repeat look this year.

Five Christmases

Starting the Saturday before Christmas, we had five of them in four days. Here is how they went:

Saturday: My extended family at the Pizza Ranch. This is the only time of the year we get together, so it was super fun to see my cousins and their kids! It was the first time I have meet two of them, and my cousin and their adorable daughter came all the way back from South Carolina. It was a fun time to watch all the kids play and interact with each other.

Sunday: DH's immediate family - time was spent eating supper, opening presents, and playing with all the new stuff. Macyn received some Minnie Mouse play sets, a little people castle, a Cinderella carriage, and a puzzle.

Monday: Christmas Eve spent with my family. We decided to have a late afternoon/early supper around 3:00 so we could all be home at a good time. I was feeling quite nauseous and got a little sick right  before we left. I decided to at least try and go to Christmas and felt okay the rest of the day and kept all my food down. DH & I got this fun yard game - Big Birdie Golf. I also received some maternity clothes and a flat wallet. Macyn got a play doh set, clothes, Baby Alive, crayons, a Barbie, and a Minnie Mouse. Fortunately, I started feeling better before church so we decided to go. We ended up sitting in the front row so that was quite the experience!

Tuesday: Christmas morning was spent with our family opening presents. We didn't go too overboard this year since we knew the Grandparents would set her up pretty well. She received an easel from Ikea, color wonder pages, fingernail polish set with a nail dryer, some some from bath and body (yes we have a girly girl) and a "baby that takes a bath."

 There is a funny story about this "baby that takes a bath." We decided to go Christmas shopping way back in November and we had all the gifts in the back of our SUV. We went to pick up Macyn and didn't even think to hide the presents in the back. So what does she do? She looks behind the seat and exclaims "A BABY THAT TAKES A BATH!" So I explained to her that we did get her the baby for Christmas, but she has to wait until then to open it. A couple of weeks had passed and I decided to ask her what she wanted for Christmas. This is how it went:
Me: Macyn, what do you want for Christmas?
Macyn: A baby that takes a bath - it's in the car.

DH bought me some touch screen gloves, some handi bac, and a Snoogle - the seriously best pillow ever, whether you are preggers or not! Even Macyn liked it and she proceeded to use it all morning while watching the parade.

I bought DH a new Vikings polo, a grill spatula, movies, and Battleship.

Tuesday Lunch: Lunch time was spent on Josh's extended family. We also had another one of DH's extended family Christmas at night, but we were so Christmas'd out that we decided to pass. We did visit his Grandpa before the meal, so at least we got to see him on Christmas.

Tuesday Night: We decided to head out and drive around a check out the Christmas lights in Maurice. Macyn LOVED it. She made comments of, "That's pretty awesome." "That's really cool" but my favorite one was when she saw a whole bunch of toy soldiers lined up and said, "There's the marching band!"

Unfortunately, in the night Macyn got the stomach flu so she had an extra day at home after Christmas. Fortunately, it wasn't a severe case of the flu, so she was pretty much back to normal after one day at home.

Our Christmas weekend was super busy, but it is always nice visiting and seeing our families.

Sunday Best

Macyn really likes her Christmas dress. It is purple with hearts, so she can wear it all winter and not just Christmas. She also likes her "elf" look (that's what we think she looks like). A classic red & green jumper with a turtle neck and boots!

Sledding

We received some fresh snow, and on Friday night on the way home from daycare,Macyn asked if she could go sledding. (we got her a sled for Christmas but were planning on giving it to her early). Here is how our conversation went:
Macyn: I want to throw snowballs at Dad
Me: Not tonight, it's already dark out
Macyn: I want to go sledding
Me: You don't have a sled
Macyn: Yes I do
Me: No you dont..
Macyn: Yes I do, my pink one!
Me: You don't have a pink one
Macyn: Yes I do - its in the garage. I will show you when we get home.

Seriously. Nothing gets past her! She was still just as excited to get her sled on Saturday and head outside to try it out. We have a good enough slope in our front yard that we have a decent "hill" for her to go down on.

New Years Day

New Years Day was spent having one more Christmas on my Mom's side. Its a pretty big get together, since my Grandpa remarried after my grandma died. So we have all my step grandma's kids, and their kids, plus all of our aunts and uncles and cousins. There are getting to be quite a few babies around now - Macyn is the oldest at 2 years 2 months, and the youngest was 4 days old! 5 great grand kids 2 and under  always makes for an interesting time. Because of all the excitement, Macyn skipped on her nap, and you can see how tired she is by the look on her face opening presents:

Sleepy kid opening presents

Macyn received a new baby doll that laughs and cries - along with some accessories! My grandma also made a baby blanket for her new baby. She loves that doll and plays mommy for hours at a time. We even have to bring her along on road trips, and sometimes to daycare.

After we got home, Macyn crashed....completely. She didn't even wake up when we would sit her up or take off her coat. Thankfully the dog woke her up after 45 minutes of napping around 5:30 (bad idea when you try to get the kid to bed on time). Fortunately, it only took an hour and she slept for 12 hours...tired kiddo. 

We had a great day with family, again! I like how the Christmases are spread out so we aren't so Christmas'd out by the 26th.

Macyn with her baby and her Minnie Mouse chair

Christmas Fashion

We decided to make things a little more interesting this year by wearing "themed" clothing to our immediate families' Christmases.

Christmas Favorites Theme - Christmas Vacation, Charlie Brown Christmas and A Christmas Story

 

Ugly Christmas attire

I think I will have to keep an eye out for an ugly sweater for Macyn next year...

Christmas Day

Christmas morning with her new Minnie Mouse chair

We spent Christmas day doing what else - celebrating the birth of Jesus! Just ask Macyn. We tell her its Christmas and she says, "Jesus birthday?!" We started out by going to church in the morning with just us three. For lunch time it was time to head over for Josh's Grandma's side Christmas. It was nice to see all the relatives again since we had to miss out on Thanksgiving this year. Christmas night was spent at my in-laws, opening presents and having a meal. I made roast in the crock pot and the in laws provided the sides. Shortly after that it was time to open presents!

Patiently waiting for presents

Macyn's new pink elephant chair!

Her new little people doll house

We had a good time celebrating Christmas. Macyn got another chair, doll house, pajamas, and mega bloks. We received a filter for our Keurig, so we can brew our own coffee instead of using Kcups all the time. Its also more cost effective this way as well. I also received and ice cream sandwich maker and Josh got a new shaver. I just love Christmas and I am sad it is over....but I guess we have another one New Year's Day, so it's not completely over yet ;)

Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve was spent with my parents. We attended the church where I grew up, along with the entire family. It doesn't happen very often that all of us are able to get together, so it was a great way to celebrate Christmas.

After church we took some pictures, and ate a delicious home cooked meal. It consisted of ham, cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole, and corn with noodles. Corn with noodles is my new favorite - I could seriously eat it for my meal and be completely satisfied. Its seriously that good. After our meal we opened up presents. Macyn was good about waiting her turn, and it was fun to see Caden open his presents by himself. There were some interesting gifts given this year, for example, I received a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree...literally. My sisters received footie pajamas (from me), and my Dad got a leg lamp from A Christmas Story. It was a great time with lots of laughter and love. Here are some pictures from the night.

Kids in their matching shirts

Macyn's pride and joy this year is her Minnie Mouse chair from Grandpa and Grandma. Its super soft and completely adorable. She also received a new outfit, boots and shirt from Aunt Brooke, and a tent with a tunnel from Aunt Brandi. She loves the tent too - I'm not in love with how much space it takes up, so it got demoted to the basement...where she plays in it daily :)

I couldn't have been happier with our family Christmas - it was such a good time getting together!